The Way Things Were… Or Are (Alpha Snippet)Cross: BBC SherlockWarning: oblique discussion of canon child abuse and the affects. Summary:The Shifters and Shamans ‘verse is a dark world and every one has their secrets.

Biologically, John Hotchner had not been Aaron’s father. A reason to be thankful, perhaps. Sean was John’s biological son. John’s actions never differentiated between the two boys: he abused them equally. Aaron couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t know that he was not born into the Hotchner family. From the beginning, Aaron knew he had been created to serve the Hotchner Shamans. As a profiler, Aaron was infinitely grateful that his father had been an inept manipulator. Little lies and different actions could have created an entirely different future. John Hotchner tended to depend on his fists and his magic to accomplish his goals. Aaron was immune to both forms of persuasion. Sean wasn’t much better.

By the time that Aaron was fifteen and Sean was eleven, John knew that though the experiment itself was a success, Aaron was a failure. Aaron could control Shifters but John could not control Aaron. John was the adaptive sort. If the first plan didn’t succeed, he’d try something different.

He decided that Sean would kill Aaron. Not only would Sean gain great powers, but John would dispose of a potentially messy situation before Aaron could defend himself. John just had to wait until Sean was old enough for the kill to jump start his powers. Aaron knew enough about Shamans to prepare for it. He didn’t even have to manipulate Sean; Aaron simply told him the truth concerning their ‘father’s’ plans.

Sean loved his brother, blood or not, and hated his father. If Sean could control his life, he would. He chose not to kill his brother. In fact, he chose not to kill at all. Sean would let the Shaman powers of the famed Hotchner family fade out of existence. The boys were smart enough to keep their plan a secret. Aaron researched every law concerning families. He planned on taking custody of his brother on his eighteenth birthday.

The Hotchner boys survived for three more years. Aaron collected every scrap of evidence of John’s abuse. In the end, it didn’t matter. John, furious at Sean’s rebellion, attempted to murder Aaron personally. Aaron defended himself, perhaps with more preplanning than a lawyer would prefer.

In the end, John was dead. Aaron was not. Sean was given over to Aaron’s custody without a death to his credit. He managed to reach his current age without killing a person.

One advantage of John’s paranoia was that of the Shamans that ‘bumped’ into them after John’s death, none of them knew what he had accomplished with Aaron. All of them were expecting either Aaron or Sean to show signs of Shamanism. Neither did, much to their confusion. Aaron’s secret, of being alpha to all Shifters, was safe.